British singer James Blunt had the monster hit “You’re Beautiful” and its double-platinum album “Back to Bedlam” in 2005 and the follow-up gold disc “All the Lost Souls” in 2007.

But it was nearly four years before Blunt released his new “Some Kind of Trouble” in November. It debuted at No. 11 on Billboard’s albums chart and has produced a Top 30 Adult Pop single, “Stay the Night,” that is Blunt’s biggest radio airplay single since “You’re Beautiful.”

Blunt says it was a chance meeting with Steve Robson, a Grammy Award-nominated record producer and songwriter, that helped him put out the new record. On Wednesday, Blunt starts the North American leg of his tour to promote the album. He hits the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby on Saturday.

Blunt, 37, in a telephone interview from a tour stop in Frankfurt, Germany, told how the album came together, what the new tour will be like, and what “You’re Beautiful” has meant to him.

Lehigh Valley Music: You’re going to be coming to Philadelphia at the end of April

Blunt: “Which I’m looking forward to.”

I saw you a couple of years ago in the Philadelphia area when Sara Bareilles opened for you in the Philadelphia area and enjoyed the show very much.

“Yeah, cool – and we’ve spoken before, as well.”

Yes, we have. I remember, I think, l opened the interview by suggesting to you that you should try more rock songs, and you very nicely said OK, you will do that. [Laughs]

[Laughs] “I sort of have, I sort of have. On my third album, I have. So thank you for the direction. [Laughs]”

Actually, I want to talk a little about that. It’s been three years since “Lost Souls.” So tell me what has been going on in that period.

“Well, I’d been on tour for two years straight. And it’s kind of funny — ‘cause I always get asked, ‘Hey, you just sort of disappeared’ – and [I say] ‘Well, no I didn’t. I’ve been … the world is a big old place.’ And so I toured solidly for two years straight and it was an amazing experience and great fun, playing in weird and wonderful places – Beruit in Lebanon, Belgrade [Serbia] – where, obviously, I was a soldier bombing over Belgrade [Blunt served in the British army during the Kosovo conflict]; Khazistan, made famous by Borat (Continued)

South Africa, South America, all an incredible experience. And then I took four months out, I went home for four months, hung out with my friends in Ibiza [Spain]. I filled up the well of inspiration in a short period of time and then I went to London and I sat in the studio for a year and wrote and recorded this album.

“And I didn’t know quite how it was going to turn out, really. I wasn’t sure exactly what direction I was going in, but I knew I didn’t want to just repeat myself. And a chance meeting with a man called Steve Robson [the new album’s producer] ended up with he and I writing the first song on this album, called ‘Dangerous.’ And it was like a naïve teenager picking up his first electric guitar, and it sounded really fun. And I said, ‘You know what? Can I come in tomorrow? Can we record the demo? And the demo sounded great, too. And I said, ‘Hey, you know what? I want to pursue this a bit further. And that chance meeting, the days turned into weeks, turned into months and over a year later, ‘Some Kind of Trouble’ was done.”

Wow. I had read an interview in which you said that you had to get away from music for a while. Is that what you were just speaking about? Where you just took time off?

“ Yeah. I was just finding that I would … Sometimes, if you don’t know quite which direction you want to head in, but you know where you don’t want to go, and every time I approached my instruments – my piano, my acoustic, I found I was slightly kind of going down that same path, and I wasn’t inspired by it. And I was finding I was just limited by those instruments. And I learned some electric guitar, but I haven’t written on the electric guitar ever, and then I really moved over to the acoustic a lot when I joined the Army, because the acoustic was more practical. There’s no plug in my tank to plug in my amp.

“So that’s why I was limited, but the results have been those slower songs, those slightly more melancholic songs. And so, then, by moving to electric, I’m actually then writing the songs I always wanted to write, those ones that you had said in our last interview. [laughs] And the slightly rocky ones are in me, but it’s just finding a medium. And that medium is the electric guitar for me.”

Yeah. I also read that you essentially recorded this album with your touring band.

“I did that with my second album, as well. I suppose the difference … you know, the first album is very much singer/songwriter/troubadour with his acoustic. The second one was singer/songwriter/troubadour with his backing band around him. And this one is that band and with me as the front man of the band, very much comfortably integrated with them. And so, I suppose, that’s just with that knowledge, again, in writing songs with all those instruments in mind. I started doing that in ‘1973.’ I really loved the bass line – I was chasing a bass line and I had a really cool one in ‘1973.’ And I pursue that again with ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Superstar’ and ‘These Are the Words’ and ‘Turn Me On.’ I’ve been able to hear the different instruments and write for those as a basis for songs.”

I have to admit that when I saw you in Philadelphia, I was a casual fan – meaning a fan of the songs I heard on the radio. And one of the surprises I found was how much you guys rocked. That was a surprise for me.

“It’s definitely much more upbeat. The albums are one thing and the live show is very different. And for me, thank God it is. I think the concerts would be hard work if they were all that gentle. I know I toured with other artists who had these much gentler concerts, and I wouldn’t enjoy myself doing that so much. And this third album has really allowed me to pick up those live shows. So we’re having the time of our lives live at the moment.”

I read where you also said the songs on the new album were more optimistic and not as sad as your previous songs. Can you tell me what was behind that?

“Yeah. I have written quite melancholic songs, all of which had a sense of hope to me – I think they’ve always had a sense of hope. But I think musically, that life that these songs have got, that energy, just the songs’ feel, they have a sense of optimist from that life. Not all the lyrics, even, I feel are any more positive. But it’s just the general feeling of the music – the sound, the overall sound and the effect, for me, has a great sense of optimism. And I feel , as a person, I’m kind of an optimistic person. People always expect me to be quite a serious person [laughs]. Or they think, in this day and age, there’s so much cynicism within the media and what we do. So much manipulation – they talk about the music industry being 80 percent hair and makeup [Laughs]. Well, you know, here’s an optimistic 20 percent.”

Obviously “You’re Beautiful” was a gift of a song. I mean, it gave you so much exposure and gave you such a lift. But have you found that it’s also been a wall for new fans?

“Um, you know, that’s the best way anyone’s ever asked me that question, actually. And an interesting one. ‘Cause normally they would say, ‘Is it a burden?,’ meaning hard to have that song, but ‘a wall to other fans’ is a really interesting way of asking it. I hadn’t thought about it that way. I think perhaps it has. Perhaps some people would just go, ‘Oh, he’s the guy who did that, and I heard that too much or didn’t like it; I’m not going to like any of his other stuff.’ Perhaps you’re right. You know, if it’s a problem, it’s a good problem to have. There are lots of musicians who would kill for that.

“And I guess I have a very different market in the States than anywhere else in the world. The rest of the world, that song’s not the highlight of the show. It’s one song amongst many, many singles. And it’s much more varied. But in America, that’s the only real song I’ve got any airplay on, properly. And so it is that thing. And I think it probably is a limitation. But as I say, if it’s a problem, it’s a good one to have.”

Yeah, absolutely. Hey, I actually hadn’t heard this song, but I read you were part of the Helping Haiti charity recording of R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Simon Cowell put that together. And, you know, it was really fun to do. Actually, the same guy who produced that, Steve Robson, produced my whole album.”

What was the timing on that? Where you into your album first, before that?

“I think we were probably halfway through. And it’s been a real partnership with Steve and myself. He does a lot of stuff in Nashville. But we have a proper relationship. It should say his name on the album cover, too. But my ego is too big and I wouldn’t let him.”

“At the moment, the States have got a single, ‘Stay the Night,’ the first one. And it’s been No. 2 on the Europe airplay charts for weeks and weeks, over months now. Um, Bruno Mars won’t move over, though.” [Laughs]

James should stick to what has worked for him; I attended last night's show at the Tower and his new "rock vibe" material is mediocre. The Keswick show a couple years back, and his catalog at that time, was much stronger.

Posted By: Bob S. | Apr 24, 2011 8:20:29 AM

I've heard a couple of James Blunt's songs and I don't think they're bad. Still I can't reconcile mixed feeling I have about him taking part in the military operation over my country. So Mike Oldfield remains my favourite British musician for now. In your face, James :P

Posted By: I am a Serb | Feb 17, 2014 6:37:27 PM

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

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JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.